A New View of Goethe and the Jews

The new book by Daniel Wilson on Goethe and the Jews represents the most thorough depiction of Goethe’s relationship to the Jews to date. On the basis of archival research, Wilson shows in great detail the nature of Goethe’s encounters with Jewish people. In this respect the book is invaluable. It also catalogs Goethe’s highly ambiguous attitude to the Jews, ranging from a positive appreciation to bigotry. This is prejudice of the most unsavory kind. Goethe’s well-documented antisemitism, which has been thoroughly researched for about a century, is, however, presented as a new discovery; in this respect, the author makes claims for the originality of his thesis that cannot be justified. There are also other flaws to this study. The argument neglects to reflect the classic accounts of antisemitism as a constituent feature of modernity, as argued from Adorno and Horkheimer to Zygmunt Bauman, which means that it does not fully locate Goethe’s views in the spectrum of prejudice that contributed to the “Final Solution.” There is also a tendency to veer between a critique of Goethe’s views and arguments ad hominem. I also note, perhaps, a slight tendency to accept at face value blanket terms like “the Jews” and “mixed marriages” when a greater distance might have been essayed. Nonetheless, the analysis of individual cases in this book is indispensable. It will no doubt provide a framework for an understanding of Goethe and the Jews for many years to come

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